Shorter hours for doctors may close casualty departments

Tuesday, 15 July 2003 12:00 AM

A senior doctor is to warn the Government today that the European Working Time Directive may result in casualty departments being forced to close over night.

A survey by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) found that 40 out of 211 hospitals asked would not be able to cope if the Directive limiting doctors in training to a 58 hour week was already in force. Junior doctors work notoriously long hours and the current limit is set at 72.

The RCP is concerned that the limited hours will result in casualty departments being shut at night and Carol Black, RCP president will raise the issue with the Health Minister John Hutton later today.

'We want to be sure that patients are safe and we also want to be sure that the doctors have a way of life that is a reasonable way of life,' she told the BBC.

Over 65% of hospitals often use the system of an 'on-call' doctor who sleeps in the hospital at night and is available if required. However the directive will also limit the amount of time doctors can be on call in this way.

But the Department of Health believes that hospitals will be able to cope and patients will not be affected.

'Different working patterns by other professional groups and/or consultants doing sessions into the evening provides scope to plan services differently,' a spokesman said.

Dr Evan Harris MP, Liberal Democrat chief health spokesman, urged "effective collaboration" between doctors and government to ensure that hospital departments are not closed and doctors are not left overtired.

"The Government has been grossly complacent on this issue", he claimed.

"The failure of successive governments to expand the number of consultants and trainees has led to British doctors being short-staffed, undertrained, under-supervised and overworked".

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